Read Bethany's Heart (Unearthly World Book 3) for Free Online Page B

but she still needed to eat and neither Bethany nor the others wished her demise. If they had, they would have sent her packing long ago. The alien had done nothing more than give her a lesson in dominance. In fact, he had given them all a lesson. Even if it meant frightening them, these aliens were here to take care of them. Bethany shuddered wondering what their real purpose was.
    * * * *
    “You frightened the females,” Blu said.
    Both males sat on furs watching the women. The women watched them, although as unobtrusively as possible. The female Finn had muscled into eating was buried under the mound of furs. She had hidden the second she had finished the meat.
    “The female needed sustenance, I could hear her belly rumbling across the room. I know a little about human anatomy. She is dehydrated and too thin under all that fur she wears. Anger burns bright in her eyes, but the bleakness of despair burns brighter. Her annoyance is for show. There is something in her look I find disturbing. She reminds me of a badly beaten toff I came across once years ago. It took a great deal of patience to get the frightened angry beast to trust me.
    “Out here I don’t have time to cajole the female’s stubborn backside into acceptance. Her pride is suffering the most. You can tell she’s a handful. She needs someone who has more attitude; she’ll find more attitude than she can handle with a Zargonnii male. My female isn’t frightened. Wary, curious. I can see her wondering what we want. For all they know we’re fattening them up to eat.”
    “That’s disgusting.”
    “About as disgusting as if we were to wonder if they would eat us, if they needed to.”
    “Those teeny little teeth of theirs wouldn’t penetrate our hides. It’s a good thing the ship has come prepared with food they can eat. Luckier still, they can eat the flesh of beasts on their planet.”
    “I’ve been thinking of these females, all Earth females actually.”
    “I can tell,” Blu grumbled. “You can stop watching me like I’m a cyron waiting to pounce on one of them. I’m not interested in human females. I want a son, eventually, and from what we know human females can’t conceive Zargonnii males.”
    “There’s a chromosome a female human is missing to conceive a male Zargonnii babe. Zargonnii males are very different from our females in one way and the same in another. Our females have a high level of testosterone which makes them bigger and stronger than our male warriors.”
    “Wait a minute. Are you saying our males are more feminine?”
    Blu looked so pissed Finn almost said yes. “It’s not just testosterone that makes a male, but more is needed in a Zargonnii male conception. Obviously, the scent of testosterone is heightened when we Holiday. You would know this if you had Holidayed with a female.”
    “I have,” Blu grumbled.
    Finn’s eyes widened. It was news to him. “Then you would know a Zargonnii female has more passion than males. I’ve never heard of a female being killed during the Holiday, but a few males have. The females are shamed for their inability to restrain themselves. If she has killed and it’s known, no Zargonnii male will mate her, she will never have a child and could be ostracized or shunned. I heard of one incident where a female Zargonnii killed a male and was so remorseful she found a male substantially smaller and less powerful and gave herself to him for the duration of the Holiday. She never fought back, not once.”
    “That must have destroyed her.”
    “She never killed again. She realized two things, if she didn’t Holiday she would never conceive. Also, she might one day give birth to a son; she had killed a mother’s son. Perhaps a female who she nested with when the Holiday was over.” Finn sat quietly for a moment. “Human-Zargonnii female offspring are very powerful.”
    “That’s the Gorgano’s fault. Damned mind battlers, the ugly fucks make me sick. This entire war between the